Rhyanne is 20 months old so I feel that we are getting to the potty training stage but I have no idea where to start because she has very little interest. I usually try to take her into the bathroom with me and explain that this is where "big girls" go the the bathroom. The only thing she seems to be interested in is pulling all of the toliet paper off the roll!!! [whatheadagainstthewall] [whatnaughty]

She doesn't seem to care that much when she is wet, only when she is dirty. This is my first one and I keep getting that feeling that I am not doing these things right.

HELP! [flagsurrender]

Sara

Can't offer you much help, Sara, but when Hannah gets older we're going to get her a special potty called, "A Throne of Their Own," that plays a tune as a reward when the child goes potty.

We have friends that successfully used it on their daughter and she was trained by about 2.

You can get it at Target for about $20.

Keep in mind...kids train at their own pace, in their own time..any forces will just aggravate everyone involved.

That being said..just keep up what you're doing. Taking her with you, talking about it, gently encouraging her to go. Will she sit on the potty? If so, great! That alone is a good start.

But if she's not telling you when she's wet and doesn't mindwhen she is...she's likely not *quite* ready yet. So I wouldn't push the issue. If/when she tells you she's messy, just say 'next time tell me first so we can go in the potty ok?' Of course, don't expect her to remember or even desire to do so next time LOL But you're planting that thought anyway KWIM?

Don't sweat it. Take your time. She's not yet 2...remember the "norm" for potty training is age 3 or 4. (though I completely understand the desire for it to be sooner! and my kids have all been trained by 2 - 2.5 at the latest)

Forgot to mention..the potty you use *can* make a world of difference. My dd did not like the potty we had, she just hated sitting on it. It wasn't the whole idea as she would sit on the big potty some, but just not her little one. So we got to looking at it and figured it out. It didn't fit her well. It had a small hole and the whole seat area was just awkward for her. She couldn't spread her legs to a natural position at all. So, we got a Baby Bjorn potty. Simple design. The pot removes easily from the top of the seat..no fumbling from underneath. No grooves to catch messes *ick* Fits her great. Brought it home...muuuuch better. She would more readily sit on her potty then.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267519&cp=2255976.2256090&parentPage=family

I am at the same stage as you are. I can tell you what my dd doctor told me. She said buy a potty chair. Bring her into the bathroom when you go, and sit her on the potty chair. Also, when she wakes up, do the same thing. If she goes potty then make a huge deal out of it, telling her how wonderful it is that she went on the big kids chair (or whatever). If she doesn't go, just try again the next time.

My son was so easy to train. Just after he turned 2 I simply showed him the potty, let him run the house naked from the waist down for a week and it was done. Amazing.
DD was another story all together. I tried the same thing with her, and she got it, as long as she was naked. So, as soon as I put panties on her, she would pee, and never seemed to remember to go potty if she had panties on. OK, this was one problem at home, but just imagin what they would say when she went to school with no britches on! So, for 9 months she and I went round and round, I knew she knew what to do, just for some reason, wouldn't do it. So, one day, I bought her some pretty stickers and a small notebook. I told her that when she potties in the potty, she gets a sticker, when she potties in her panties, she doesn't get one. No, no stickers just for fun, have to potty first. Do you know, from that moment, the girls has not had a single accident!!! Not 1, not at night, not in the grocery, not while playing, NONE!!!

The moral of this story, all children are different, mommy's job is to figure out what makes them tick, and how to make the situation work for them. (sounds like a politician!)

Oh please don't rush her! My dd started showing signs at 2 1/2 and we started potty training then. I don't know if we rushed her, or the birth of ds messed up her plans or what. But now she is still not ready at 3 1/2. :roll: I know she won't be in diapers forever but it is hard to see at the moment... I am just trying to enjoy her while she is little and not bring any stress with it. I know she'll tell me when she's good and ready. :)

Kids definately potty train at their own pace. We've tried it all so I don't think it has anything to do with rewards at all -- just a matter of when they decide it's time.

I agree. Don't rush them. She sounds a little young still. Our dd just potty trained in the last week she will be 3 in Dec. Our son was potty trained just a week before he turned 3. Both of them have had very few accidents. You will save yourself a lot of mess and frustration by just waiting. It doesn't matter what the books say. When she is ready she will tell you she wants to go even if she already did in her diaper, she will ask to try, and show a real interest in what is actually going on in the bathroom. Our ds hated being wet or messy so that is why he trained, dd didn't notice, so I set the timer every 15 min. and took her. After a couple days I set the timer for 30 min. couple days later an hour. Soon she was in the habit of going and learned to hold it and only go when she was on the potty chair. One note of caution, depending on your daughter's temperment, we bought one of the small seats that sat on top of a regular potty chair for our son. However he got used to it and wouldn't go without it. It took a long time to wean him from his little potty chair.DD went directly on the big one and it sure made it easier when we weren't at home.

Every kid is different.. and will be ready at different stages! My dh's youngest sister wasn't fully potty trained until close to her 4th birthday, and she is a very intelligent child.. she just didn't mind being dirty and would rather go in her diaper then stop what shes doing to go to the toilet. My little girl was almost completely trained by 18 months.. that wasn't on purpose. I just had someone give me a brand new potty and so I put it in our bathroom.. dd wanted to sit on it and go right away! By that age she was already staying dry at night so that wasn't an issue. I sure hope I have that easy of a time with my ds. It would be nice not to have to change 2 sets of diapers for too long!